Parental Companionship in Crucial Phrases of Teens

Parental companionship
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Parental companionship
Childhood and adolescents are crucial phases in their contribution to their health and wellbeing (Purewal et al., 2017). The relationships they form at this stage are a determinant on their development process. During this time, relationships with their parents are essential. The parents offer companionship that children and adolescents need at this stage. The absence of such companionship can have negative implications for their growth and development. Parental companionship varies as individuals transition from childhood to adolescence and ultimately to adulthood. Hence, the parental companionship for children may be appropriate for the adolescents and vice versa. This essay will elaborate on parental companionship with a specific focus on how it affects children and adolescents.
Parental companionship with children
According to Pickhardt (2012), the relationship between parents and children is unchosen because none of them commences the social interaction by any experience of wanting to know one another better. On the contrary, a parent has a stranger born into their care. For the child, the parents seem like strangers. Although the parents may have wanted to get a baby, they must now strive to know the kind of child they have got. The child has to get to know the kind of parents he or she did not have an opportunity to choose. The parent/child relationship comes about as a result of bonded attachment and on family responsibility. The attachment grows as the parent and child nurture affection for one another by participating in a mutually appealing interaction. On the one hand, the child requires love, and the parent wishes to offer love. On the other hand, the adult needs love, and the child wishes to give love in return. Mutual responsibility comes about as the parents assume their responsibility to maintain and guide the child who accepts the duty to adhere to the direction of the parents and accepts dependency on that support.
Companionship with peers
Unlike the companionship with parents which is based on attachment and responsibility, companionship with peers is mutually chosen. The peers “develop compatibility and commonality on how they like each other” (Pickhardt, 2012). The companionship develops when the peers allocate it their primary social value and a more substantial portion of their socializing time. Best friends favor one another’s company and enjoy similar tastes in interests. These qualities characterize much of the friendships for children up to 8 or 9 years. The children simply enjoy spending time together. However, as children reach adolescence, the parent and the young individual find it challenging to maintain the mutually satisfying companionships that existed before. At early adolescence (9 to 13), a separation from childhood and the family takes place as the young people demand more independence and space which strains that companionship with the parents. At this time, the young individuals need to develop a friendship with friends with whom spending time is more appealing compared to hanging out with the parents. The teens oppose the parents as they seek for more freedom which less...